Claudio,
I am restart my first violin, and upto the point that I am struggling with the Ciresa maple, which is very hard wood to carve, and I saw your work on other thread that it seems you have a very easy time on carving the back with big smooth stroke which proof by the picture. Wondering what is the secret to achieve this... I now have an ALMOST broken right thumb and very sore palm after cut out 5 oz of woods on weekend. Note, I am using mostly on #5 16mm gouge. and sometime #7 12mm.
How to achieve
I use a 30/7 Pfeil gouge, it is important to have a correct cut angle (30°) and you have to sharpen it in the correct way:
1- water grindstone
2- good water stone ( 2 layers japanese stones are excellent).
3- refine the cutting edge using an Arkansas stone.
I found the Arkansas and Japanese stones in the same shop where I bought the Lie Nielsen plane, in California.
Follow the sharpen process as above, if you are right you can manage your gouge very easily. If not, you need some more practice to sharpen your gouge.
ps
Also you need a 30/5 gouge to make more refined surfaces.
1- water grindstone
2- good water stone ( 2 layers japanese stones are excellent).
3- refine the cutting edge using an Arkansas stone.
I found the Arkansas and Japanese stones in the same shop where I bought the Lie Nielsen plane, in California.
Follow the sharpen process as above, if you are right you can manage your gouge very easily. If not, you need some more practice to sharpen your gouge.
ps
Also you need a 30/5 gouge to make more refined surfaces.
you can buy a kind of caliper that can measure your cutting edge angle. It is not so expensive. With it you can measure the angle of you blade plane and chisel. I think it cannot be used with gouges, but you can compare the gouges with correct chisels. One or two degrees of difference won't be dangerous, but generally I prefere a lower angle than a higher one (from 25 to 28°).